What is the Influence Gap Analysis?

The Influence Gap Analysis (IGA) is a free 5-minute assessment that measures your personal influence style across Dr. Robert Cialdini's seven universal principles of persuasion — reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity, and unity — plus contrast, the meta-principle that amplifies every other principle. You receive a signature combining your primary and secondary principles and can unlock a deeper Mastery quiz to test your knowledge of ethical influence.

How long does the Influence Gap Analysis take?

The basic Influence Gap Analysis takes about 5 minutes. It is a 24-question forced-choice test that produces your influence signature: a primary principle paired with a secondary principle, drawn from Cialdini's seven principles plus contrast.

What are Cialdini's seven principles of influence?

Dr. Cialdini's seven principles are reciprocity (we repay what we receive), commitment and consistency (we honor our prior choices), social proof (we follow what others do), authority (we defer to credible experts), liking (we say yes to people we like), scarcity (we want what is rare), and unity (we say yes to those we share an identity with). The Influence Gap Analysis also measures contrast — the amplifier that makes each of the seven land harder.

Is the Influence Gap Analysis free?

Yes. The basic Influence Gap Analysis is completely free and does not require an account or email to receive your signature. An optional paid Mastery quiz unlocks a deeper 64-question knowledge test plus a personalized influence report.

Is this the official Cialdini test?

Yes. The Influence Gap Analysis is built on the published research of Dr. Robert Cialdini, the Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University and the world's most-cited social psychologist on persuasion. It uses Cialdini's seven principles plus contrast as its measurement framework.

What does my influence signature mean?

Your signature is a pairing of your primary influence principle (the lever you reach for first) and your secondary principle (the lever you use to back it up). For example, an Authority+Reciprocity signature describes someone who leads with credibility and reinforces it with generous gestures, while a Liking+Social-Proof signature describes someone who leads with warmth and reinforces it with what others are doing.

Can I share my Influence Gap Analysis result?

Yes. Every result has a unique share link and downloadable signature image, so you can compare results with colleagues, friends, or your team. Team accounts also produce an aggregate radar so you can see how a whole team's influence style is distributed.

How is the Influence Gap Analysis different from a personality test?

Personality tests like Myers-Briggs, Big Five, or DISC measure stable traits (e.g. introversion, conscientiousness). The Influence Gap Analysis measures something different: which of the seven Cialdini levers you naturally reach for when you want to persuade, negotiate, or lead. It is a behavioral influence-style assessment, not a personality test.

Isn't liking-based influence superficial?

Only when performed. Genuine liking is not a technique — it's an orientation. Hosts who fake it burn out fast. The real skill is cultivating authentic curiosity about the person in front of you.

How do I say no as a Host?

The technique that works: use the relationship as the reason for the no, not an exception to it. 'Because I value this relationship, I have to be honest that I can't do this well right now.'

To a ceiling. Hosts can influence hundreds at a time but struggle with millions. At scale, pure authority and social proof beat liking. The best Hosts pair with a Sage or Influencer when they need reach.

Cialdini principle · Influence Profile

← All principles

Liking

You make people feel so welcomed and seen that saying yes feels natural.

Kindred spirits

Dale Carnegie (wrote the book on liking-as-influence)
Oprah Winfrey (makes every guest feel like the most important one)
Michelle Obama (builds connection before content)

The tendency to influence others through rapport, warmth, genuine connection, and finding common ground. Your first instinct is warmth — finding the point of similarity, the shared frustration, the small honest compliment. You build influence in the first three minutes of a meeting, not the last three. People who do not particularly enjoy being persuaded enjoy being persuaded by you.

Best at